U.S.|Hurricane Irma, Now a Category 5 Storm, Threatens the Caribbean and Florida

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Hurricane Irma, Now a Category 5 Storm, Threatens the Caribbean and Florida

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Hurricane Irma grew into a Category 5 storm as it headed west toward the Caribbean islands. It could make landfall in the northern Leeward Islands as early as Tuesday night.CreditCreditNASA, via Reuters

Hurricane Irma strengthened over the Atlantic Ocean into “an extremely dangerous” Category 5 storm on Tuesday, threatening to batter the Caribbean and, potentially, Florida, too, according to the National Weather Service.

Irma is expected to retain Category 4 or 5 status for days as it makes its way through the Caribbean, most likely hitting the islands of Antigua and Barbuda as soon as Tuesday night, according to a weather service meteorologist. Florida, where evacuations have already been announced, is increasingly likely to feel Irma’s effects later this week and over the weekend, though the storm’s potential severity is not yet clear.

“There are different scenarios and we really won’t know which one of those is going to be the case until a couple days beforehand,” said Chris Landsea, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Still, the weather service urged people living in hurricane-prone areas to have plans in place should it hit. And officials in the Florida Keys announced that a mandatory evacuation would begin on Wednesday. The mayor of Miami-Dade County, which is home to 2.7 million people, warned residents that evacuations might be forthcoming as soon as Wednesday, too.

With maximum winds near 185 miles per hour, Irma is tied as the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. Only Hurricane Allen, in 1980, was stronger, with peak winds of about 190 m.p.h.

Starting Tuesday night, the weather service said, the “potentially catastrophic” hurricane is expected to bring life-threatening wind, rain and storm surges to parts of the northern Leeward Islands, which line the eastern edge of the Caribbean. The storm is expected to move on to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Wednesday and Haiti, the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands on Thursday, according to the forecast.

The latest estimates put Irma on a more direct path toward South Florida, raising the possibility that the United States could be hit by back-to-back major hurricanes. In anticipation, Gov. Rick Scott of Florida declared a state of emergency on Monday for the state’s 67 counties.

“We do not know the exact path of this storm, but weather can change in an instant and while we hope for the best, we must prepare for the worst,” he said in a statement.

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Grocery store shelves of water were empty in Puerto Rico as residents prepared for the arrival of Hurricane Irma in the next few days.CreditAlvin Baez/Reuters

Mr. Scott on Tuesday asked President Trump to issue an emergency declaration for every county in the state. He also said that he had activated 100 members of the Florida National Guard and ordered 7,000 members of the Guard to report for duty on Friday.

On Tuesday afternoon, Carlos Giménez, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, warned residents in some areas that he might call for mandatory evacuations as early as Wednesday.

“This hurricane is far too powerful, poses far too great a threat, for us to delay actions any longer,” he said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. Residents with special needs will be evacuated on Wednesday, he said.

Coast Guard crew members and helicopters that assisted in rescue missions in southeast Texas for Hurricane Harvey were starting to return to their home stations, including Florida, to prepare for Irma, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

American Airlines announced late Monday that it had canceled several flights on Tuesday between Miami and destinations in the Caribbean.

“For people in South Florida, now is the time to start preparing and getting those hurricane kits in order,” said Chuck Caracozza, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Miami.

If the peak storm surge coincides with high tide, waters may rise 7 to 11 feet above ground in the Virgin Islands and 3 to 5 feet above ground on Puerto Rico’s northern shore. Waves could reach heights of 15 to 20 feet above normal tide levels in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas.

Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands can expect 4 to 10 inches of rain, with totals potentially reaching 15 inches in some areas. Islands east of there can expect 8 to 12 inches of rain, with totals as high as 20 inches in some areas, according to the service.

Even as Irma moved toward the Caribbean on Tuesday, the service offered an update on another weather system: Jose, a new tropical storm, had developed in the central Atlantic and was forecast to become a hurricane later in the week.